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don’t.”
    “For a second there, I’d hoped.” Nick’s laugh was a ragged and unkind thing. No surprise. Matching soulmarks always—as far as Barrett knew—sparked to life at the same time. “Stupid of me.”
    “Don’t think about it right now. Or if you can’t put it out of your mind, then don’t talk about it in front of Daniel.” Barrett nearly didn’t recognize the sound of himself. He’d never been so stern, so remote, in his life.
    As if he hadn’t heard, Nick didn’t stop carding the short ends of Barrett’s hair. “What are we supposed to do now?” he asked, quiet as a deer picking its way through a fog bank.
    Barrett wished he had any kind of answer to give. He didn’t. He shook his head and stepped away from Nick’s touch, toward the patient knocking at their door.
     
    * * * *
     
    Nick resettled the band around his hair as he dodged into the kitchen. It went to show how much this had rattled Barrett, too, he thought. Barrett had gone to the front door almost blindly, when he knew as well as Nick that Daniel never came in the front. He’d used the back door since the day they’d met.
    As a last-minute impulse, Nick plucked a rubber band from the junk drawer by the door and wound it around his wrist. Negative reinforcement worked for smokers and nail-biters, or at least he’d always heard as much.
    Daniel looked a million miles away, more distracted than usual. He held a pair of heavy work gloves draped across one arm almost like a baby, and blinked at Nick as if waking up from a long winter’s nap. “I wondered if you were still here.”
    “Sorry?”
    “I tried calling,” Daniel said, visibly drifting away again then just as visibly snapping himself back to the present. “No one answered.”
    Nick hadn’t heard the phone ring. Then again, he doubted he’d have heard an elephant charging through one wall of their cottage and out the other side again when he and Barrett had been in bed together, much less after. “Got caught up in a few things,” he said, the understatement slapping him in the ears. “Barrett! Back door.”
    “Damn it,” Barrett grumbled, doing a U-turn from the front. Almost made Nick laugh. Silly old creature. He perked up as he approached. “Are those my work gloves? Thanks. I didn’t realize I’d left them.”
    “Hmm? Oh. This. Yes. I thought I’d bring them back before I forgot, too.” Daniel pushed the gloves at Nick. Nick caught them without fumbling, but only barely. He frowned. There was distraction, and there was cause for worry. Daniel came awfully close to crossing the line.
    He must have realized it. He grimaced at Nick. “I’d tried to call to tell you I’d better cancel for tonight. Figured you weren’t at home anyway and I’d leave these on the doorstep.”
    “Come on, we wouldn’t forget you,” Barrett protested, resting a casual arm on Nick’s shoulder as he used to. Habit? Maybe. He tilted his head and gestured at Daniel with his free hand. “Everything okay? You’re acting a little…”
    Daniel grimaced as he waved the concern aside. “Don’t worry about me. Some unexpected news tonight, that’s all. It’ll be fine.”
    Yeah? Join the club. Nick pressed slightly harder against Barrett, soaking up his warmth. “You don’t exactly look fine.”
    Daniel rubbed the back of his neck, absently but roughly. “Something happened that… I’m not sure what it means. I will, though.”
    Barrett nudged Nick in the ribs. Nick knew what he meant without Barrett needing to say it— ease off.
    Good advice, but Nick never had been head of the class at following orders. Especially not when it came to someone he cared about, in whatever fashion. Even with their world turned topsy-turvy, the notion of sending Daniel off all by his lonesome chafed. “You’re still welcome to eat with us. We wouldn’t mind having you. Honest.”
    “No? I’d mind being had,” Daniel said, giving Nick one of his more unreadable looks. “Let this one